Physical and leisure activities and it’s impact on cognition in aging

Abstract

Paper design: prevalence study.Objective:The goal of this study was to investigate the prevalence of physical and leisure activities among a gruop of elderly with age of 70 to 75. Furthermore, it was investigated if those activities would have an influence in cognition. Methods: Participated in this study 45 elderly of both gender in the age of 70 to 75. They were non bedridden, non living in an asylum, had no neurolical diseases ( pre diagnosticated) and were cadastrated in a Núcleo de Saúde da Família (NSF) in the city of Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil. Two questionnaire were used: one to gatter data of social and economic state, health, life habits and the elderly routine, formulated with questions to qualify the subjects including informations about leisure and physical activities ; and the other one was the Mini Exame of Mental Health. Results: In this studied group 52,3% reported the habit to praticate physical activities, especialy walk, and men refered doing it more (69,2%) then women (43,7%). About the leisure activities 80% reported doing it (81,2% of the women and 76,9% of the men). The most refered tipe was going to church (66,6%). The elderly who practiced leisure activities had a significative higher score, verified by the t test, on the Mini Exame then those who didn’t. Conclusions: The incentive to leisure activities should be considered when one thinks about health promotion, specialy when there is a possibility to upgrade the chances of a healthy physical and cognition aging.